Quenching oil temp.

[Nathan C.]

Does you oil need to be a certain temperature range? Where I live in the winter it can  get well below 0 like -20 to -30 would I need to store my oil in a building that is heated or would it be fine to use it when it has been out in that cold of whether and not have negative results on the metal?

[Charles R. Stevens]

Generally one preheats quenching oil. The viscosity of cold oil adversely effects the effectiveness. Depending on the oil and work involved you may be talking a few hundred degrees F. I have seen everything from deep fryers to red hot blocks of steel used to pre heat oil to the desired temp

[Jackdawg]

I have an old CV shaft I keep next to my quench tank. When I am going to harden something I heat the old shaft up to a nice red and drop it in the tank before I start. As long as your oil has not solidified, something similar should be all you need. I don't know what will happen if your oil has congealed, never gets cold enough here to do that, but it might there if your using a vegetable oil or similar.

[Nathan C.]

Okay thanks for the information I will keep one mind for when I get everything put together and get started finally. 

[ThomasPowers]

Well it sort of TOTALLY DEPENDS ON WHAT KIND OF OIL YOU ARE USING!  Which you didn't mention.  For most Vegetable oils around 140 deg F works well; the requirements for Parks 50, transmission fluid, fish oil I'd have to look up.  However another rule of thumb is to keep it below the drawing temperature you plan to use...